Injuries force Connacht’s Matthews to retire

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By JOHN FALLON

Connacht centre Keith Matthews has been forced to retire from rugby after failing to recover from an Achilles tendon injury picked up seven months ago.
The former Ireland A international is the latest professional player who has been forced to call a halt to his career.
Ironically, the 28-year old picked up the injury shortly after making his 100th appearance for Connacht, who he joined from Munster seven seasons ago.
The Limerick man suffered the injury during the captain’s run for a league game against Cardiff.
“I was running and went to go off my left and it was like as if someone had kicked me really hard. I looked back and there was no one there. I knew straight away it was bad, the pain was something else,” he said.
Matthews had ruptured his left Achilles tendon and was told it was more serious as the tear was high up. He had surgery in a week and the long road to recovery began.
However, it became apparent during the summer that the recovery was not working out as well as expected and there was a further set-back in September when he tried to run.
But all along the expectation was that he would make a full recovery. “I had to deal with a few serious injuries before and it was always worked out, so I suppose I expected the same now,” he said.
However, the prognosis was not good and his worst fears were confirmed two and a half weeks ago when he went to see a specialist in Belfast and was told he would never play rugby again.
“It was heartbreaking. I was gutted and it took a long time for it to sink in. There were a few tears as I realised this was it, there was no way back. That took time to sink in and I’m still coming to terms with it,” he said.
But, aside from management and a few others, Matthews kept the devastating news to himself as Connacht were preparing for their Heineken Cup debut against Harlequins.
“I didn’t want any negativity to go around, either for the Quins game or the first home match against Toulouse, so I waited before I told the lads.
“It struck me in the stand against Toulouse and against last weekend against the Ospreys that I would never again experience the thrill of being out there, the buzz from the crowd when you make a break or get a tackle in.
“But that’s what I need to adjust to. I’m not the first, nor will I be the last, to have his career cut short. I just thought I would get another two or three years out of it, maybe when I was 30 or 32,” said Matthews, who is married to Lisa and they have a daughter.
Matthews has prepared for life after rugby, graduating several years ago from University of Limerick with a degree in computer engineering, while more recently he has studied financial advising and is giving thought to accountancy.
He just hadn’t planned on having to make that adjustment for some time.
“I will always support Connacht. I have grown to love the place and consider myself a Galway and Connacht person and am grateful for the chance I got here. It’s disappointing the way it has ended but at least I got to reach the 100 games. This could have happened after 99,” he added.

Ospreys too strong for Connacht

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Connacht 6
Ospreys 17

By JOHN FALLON

It has been a momentous few weeks for Connacht rugby but away from all the razzmatazz of their historic entry to the Heineken Cup, a seven-match losing run has now accumulated.
A good few of those losses, such as away to Leinster and Ulster, were entirely predictable, as were the Heineken Cup meetings with Harlequins and Toulouse.
Connacht have made huge strides off the field but on it they are still a good bit away from seriously competing with those sort of sides on a regular basis and the same would apply to a full strength Ospreys side.
But an Ospreys side without seven internationals, three more away with the Welsh sevens and eight out injured should be well within range for Connacht and that’s why Eric Elwood was so frustrated and annoyed on Saturday night.
Qualification for the Heineken Cup has done more for Connacht rugby in six months than what happened in the past decade. Their entry to it again is probably dependant on one of the other provinces winning one of the European competitions but they shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Ulster are catchable in the RaboDirect PRO12 and they could claim entry to the Heineken Cup off their own steam next time.
Ulster’s failure to even get a bonus point in Glasgow on Friday night presented Connacht with a glorious chance to make up ground on Saturday night but, despite ample possession, they never looked like doing that against the weakened Welsh.
True, the loss of the suspended Mike McCarthy did not help, nor did Michael Swift joining a casualty list which includes other experienced warriors such as Johnny O’Connor and Keith Matthews, but Connacht had both the possession and opportunity to win this one and availed of neither.
The sight of the burly Welsh prop Duncan Jones, celebrating his 150th outing for Ospreys, supplying the game’s decisive moment with a lung-bursting break to set up the clinching try in the second-half summed up a lot from this frustrating encounter.
“We are extremely disappointed. We’re not in a happy place at the moment with the run of defeats. We are putting good phases of play together but then turn it over or just not finish the chances. That’s frustrating and we need to learn from game to game.
“We really gifted them two soft tries and then found it so hard to score. In fairness, both sides did their best and played some good rugby in the conditions. We were happy with the lineouts and played well in the second-half but just seem to turn it over when it really mattered,” said Elwood.
Connacht will take positives from the night on the field — David McSharry again impressing, this time at outside centre, and Dave Gannon doing well in the lineout — and off it the official crowd of 4,107 (around 3,000 in the ground when absent season ticket holders are taken into account) showed that plenty enjoyed the Toulouse experience to come back again.
But now Connacht need to address the losing run and they get a good opportunity next Friday when they entertain Treviso.
“There are games every week now so you need to take the lesson from one and correct it for the next, so all our attention now is on Treviso next week.
“Treviso will be anxious to hit back after losing to Leinster. They’re a tough outfit but we will just have to front up to the challenge and put this one behind us,” added Elwood, whose side defeated the Italians 11-9 on the opening weekend of the season.
Both sides struggled to master the awful conditions with the swirling wind making lineouts, passing and kicking a lottery.
Connacht were on top in the opening half when they had the elements but still trailed by four points at the break.
Miah Nikora got Connacht off the mark with a kick in front of the posts after 15 minutes, after Ospreys were penalised for not rolling away.
Connacht had enjoyed a sustained bout of pressure, with scrum-half Paul O’Donoghue knocking on under pressure as he dived for the left corner after a trademark good maul off a lineout.
Ospreys, despite some good running down the left by the busy Richard Fussell, rarely got out of their own half but yet they managed to lead 10-6 at the break.
Matthew Morgan supplied all their first-half scores with a penalty before dotting down after 32 minutes when his scrum-half Rhys Webb stepped inside Connacht loosehead prop Brett Wilkinson and Morgan got round Connacht full-back Gavin Duffy to touch down.
The 18-year old added the conversion to make it 10-3 after 32 minutes, but Connacht hit back almost immediately and Nikora landed a good penalty.
Connacht enjoyed plenty of possession after the restart but struggled to convert it into scores and Ospreys wrapped up the game after 62 minutes.
Prop Jones broke off a lineout and while the Connacht cover got back, Ospreys piled on the pressure for Fussell to send Sonny Parker over for the try.
Morgan added the points to secure the win to keep the Welsh top of the table.

Scorers:
Connacht:
Pens: Nikora (2)

Ospreys:
Tries: Morgan, Parker
Cons: Morgan (2)
Pen: Morgan

Connacht: G Duffy; B Tuohy (M McCrea, 68), D McSharry, H Fa’afili, T O’Halloran; M Nikora (N O’Connor, 51), P O’Donohoe (F Murphy, 51); B Wilkinson (R Loughney 54), A Flavin (E Reynecke, 54), R Ah You; D Gannon, G Naoupu; TJ Anderson (M Kearney, 40), J Muldoon, R Ofisa (E Grace, 70).

Ospreys: B Davies; T Bowe (H Dirksen, 74), A Bishop, A Beck (S Parker, 53), R Fussell; M Morgan, R Webb; D Jones, R Hibbard (M Davies, 74), A Jarvis (C Griffiths, 57); I Gough (L Peers, 77), J King; T Smith, C O’Toole (G Stowers, 54), J Bearman.

Referee: A McMenemy (SRU).
Attendance: 4,107.

Young guns see Munster past Edinburgh

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Munster 34
Edinburgh 17

By DECLAN ROONEY

Stand-in captain Mick O’Driscoll has paid tribute to emerging Munster talent – but says experienced players like himself are not going to give up their places without a fight. The young brigade grabbed the headlines from their latest bonus-point win in the RaboDirect PRO 12 on Saturday night, but veteran lock O’Driscoll said his generation are not ready to step aside just yet.
Tries from fledglings Danny Barnes, Simon Zebo and debutant Luke O’Dea helped secure the win at windswept Thomond Park.
The revenge mission was completed against Michael Bradley’s side with the bonus point after Edinburgh’s indiscipline was punished with a penalty try and O’Dea’s touchdown.
Thirteen changes in personnel from the previous week saw a Munster side take to the field full of intensity and hunger and according to O’Driscoll, the result was most satisfying.
“No matter who you are playing against, any time you get a bonus point you have got to be happy,” said the big secondrow. “There are guys there, me, Marcus, Hayes and Dunners; fellas like that who want to be playing every week and either haven’t been involved or have been on the bench. There is a lot to prove for guys like us.
“And then you have the younger guys who are the same, they all want to be playing European Cup games as well, but for some of them it is more about getting experience and getting back into the groove and putting themselves forward for now and the future.
“I suppose a lot of us are pushing on in years as well and it is vital that these young guys step up to the mark. We are certainly not going to step aside and let them in either, but it is important that these guys take their chances too.”
And the new kids on the block certainly caught the eye when the opportunity arose.
The most senior of the three, Barnes – who has 19 appearances to his name – cantered over for the opening try after barely two minutes, with Ian Keatley’s bright running tearing Edinburgh asunder out wide.
And Zebo, who broke the gain-line on countless occasions, was on hand to claim Munster’s third try after the pack had earlier ground out a penalty try.
But after an assured performance it was O’Dea who sealed the deserved bonus point when he beat the Edinburgh cover in a sprint to get the touch to Will Chambers’ grubber kick.
But at one stage in the second half we were sent scrambling to find out the Scots’ last win at Thomond Park. A Phil Godman try after 12 minutes after a poor kick through from Keatley, was added to by winger Tom Brown’s excellent stretching try nine minutes after the restart, which put just three points between the sides.
This was the time for the old heads to steady the ship and with Donncha O’Callaghan, O’Driscoll and Marcus Horan to the fore in seven reset scrums, the penalty try and the win was secured much to the pleasure of the skipper.
“We were the last game this weekend and we had dropped to fifth or sixth in the table going into tonight,” said O’Driscoll. “It was vital for us to win to get back up to where we belong, certainly in the play-offs, or the top one or two.”

Munster
Tries: Barnes, Pen try, Zebo, O’Dea
Cons: Keatley (4)
Pens: Keatley (2)

Edinburgh:
Tries: Godman, Brown, Laidlaw
Cons: Laidlaw

Munster: D Hurley; L O’Dea, W Chambers, D Barnes, S Zebo; I Keatley, T O’Leary; M Horan, D Fogarty, S Archer; D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll; B Holland, T O’Donnell, P Butler.
Replacements: J Coughlan for Butler, 67; D Williams for O’Leary, 69; S Henry for Fogarty, 69; J Hayes for Archer, 69; J Ryan for Horan, 75; I Nagle for O’Callaghan, 76; T Gleeson for Zebo, 76; S Deasy for Keatley, 76.

Edinburgh: C Paterson; S Visser, J Thompson, J King, T Brown; P Godman, M Blair; K Traynor, S Lawrie, J Gilding; S Cox, S Turnbull; Ni Talei, R Rennie, S McInally.
Replacements: H Leonard for Thompson, 23; L Niven for Rennie, 54; R Hislop for King, 58; G Laidlaw for Gogman, 64; E Lozada for Turnbull, 68; R Grant for Talei, 72; G Hunter for Paterson, 76.

Referee: N Paterson (SRU).

O’Connell backing O’Driscoll to return

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By DECLAN ROONEY

Paul O’Connell has no doubts but Brian O’Driscoll will make a full recovery and be back in action better than ever after shoulder surgery. Indeed, O’Connell reckons the Ireland captain can benefit from the lay-off and return stronger than ever.

“I have no doubt he will come back, absolutely no doubt,” said the Munster captain. “I suppose it’ll be fun for people to write him off now in the papers or whatever for a few months but I have no doubt he’ll come back.

“It’ll probably do him well. I think sometimes when you are rehabbing injuries all the time it doesn’t do any harm to have something that rules you out for a few months so you can work on a few other things. You can work on your speed, your strength and different thing like that.

“And the break refreshes you and I think there is probably one or two more seasons, no doubt, in him, and I think he’ll probably play all the better for it. That’s his thing, he is mentally very strong and I know it was a struggle for him. I know when I play, I hate to play injured, you want to be 100 per cent all the time. It really rattles you when you are not going out there at 100 per cent.

“It has probably been a tough few months of him like that, but I think it is a great decision for him for his career. I have no doubt with his mental strength and the way he is made up he’ll come back and he will probably have a great finish to his career because of the break.”

O’Connell is focusing on Saturday’s visit of a strong Northampton side to Thomond Park that were desperately unlucky to be pipped by Leinster in last year’s final. And after tasting defeat to Leinster themselves last weekend, Munster head coach Tony McGahan is confident his side can bounce back with a big performance on Saturday – especially in the set-pieces.

“It’s going to be a huge contest this week,” said McGahan. “We know first hand from Northampton two years ago in the two pool games and the quarter-final, and certainly in their progress to get to the final last year, was on the back of the scrum in particular.

“So, it’s going to be a very, very important part of the game and the result will be hanging off the back of that. There are a side that are in your face, they let you know if you have made a mistake. I think the strong thing about Northampton is that they are not a side that beats themselves, they are a well-disciplined side and they limit their mistakes. And if you are going to get a result against them, we certainly know we need to make sure to control our own territory and not give them easy opportunities to kick points and give them easy field possession, because they are a side that feeds off mistakes.”

To secure the win, Munster will need to achieve at least parity in the scrum, and consequently, it will come as some relief to McGahan that BJ Botha has been able to take his place in the squad after the South African tighthead limped off two minutes from time against Leinster.

“He was just really tired. It was that simple, he played a lot of rugby this year and it was very competitive in a very contested game and especially with a sequence of scrums down on the line at the last part.”

With Keith Earls ruled out for the rest of the year with a knee injury and World Cup casualties Jerry Flannery, David Wallace and Felix Jones it is a youthful and inexperienced 23 that McGahan is likely to select. No worries though, he claims. “It is well documented where the squad is and where it is moving to, we can only put 15 on the park and we need everyone to be able to stand on their own two feet and be able contribute to the result. Whether someone is out there in the 15 or the 23 on Saturday they are only there because they can get the job done,” he said.

“You can only deal with what you’ve got, looking through injuries or form or other things like that are outside the group’s control. All we know is we can pick the 15 and pick the 23 and put them on the park and we expect everyone to go out there and get the job done,” added McGahan.

Munster and Leinster meet before Euro kick-off

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By JOHN FALLON

Leinster and Munster will clash at the RDS in the newly named RaboDirect Pro12 the week before they open their Heineken Cup campaigns in November.

The clash of the Heineken Cup and Celtic League champions is likely to see the return of the Irish players to their provinces after the World Cup in New Zealand.

And Connacht, who will play in the Heineken Cup for the first time, face a daunting trip to Ravenhill against Ulster the week before they make their bow in the competition.

A draft of the fixtures has been sent to the 12 clubs and while they are subject to change, Munster andLeinster are set to again face each other at Thomond Park the week before the Heineken Cup quarter-finals next April.

As usual there will be successive Irish derby games over the Christmas period. Munster will host Connacht and Leinster will entertain Ulster, probably on Friday December 23, while Leinster travel to the Sportsground and Munster head to Ravenhill for the New Year’s weekend fixtures.

Champions Munster will open the defence of their title when they host Newport-Gwent Dragons on the first weekend in September. Leinster will travel to Ospreys, Connacht head to Italy to take on Benetton Treviso and Ulster face Glasgow Warriors at home.

Michael Bradley will meet his former Connacht charges when Eric Elwood’s men will go to Murrayfield to take on Edinburgh in the third series of games.

Six rounds of the league are scheduled for successive weekends, starting on Friday September 2, and there will be a two-week break for the World Cup before it resumes again on October 28.

Carr sets record as Connacht motor on

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Connacht 27
Edinburgh 23

By JOHN FALLON

Fionn Carr scored the fastest try of the season in the Magners League when he crossed in just 32 seconds at the Sportsground on Friday night.
And in the process he created a new Connacht try-scoring record with his touchdown taking him one past current video analyst Conor McPhillips who scored 32.
And Carr would have scored a hat-trick by half-time but when he was taken out by a cynical tackle from Nick de Luca after 37 minutes which earned Connacht a penalty try and the Scotsman ten minutes in the bin.
But Carr — who is leaving the Sportsground in the summer, destination unknown — was unperturbed and he got his 34th try of his Connacht career on the stroke of half-time after a superb move down the right involving Ray Ofisa and Gavin Duffy.
Those tries should have been enough to have taken Connacht out of sight but they conceded a couple of soft tries and were just 20-17 ahead at the break.
Indeed, they were left hanging on at the finish to make it seven home wins on the spin, but Gavin Duffy secured the bonus point on the hour mark after a grubber from Ian Keatley.
Tries from Scott Newlands and James King saw the visitors 17-8 ahead after half an hour, but Connacht finished the half strongly with a superb move involving Keatley, Troy Nathan, Duffy and Carr that lead up to the penalty try.
After the break, two more penalties from Laidlaw kept Edinburgh in contention to the end but Connacht deservedly held out.

Connacht:
Tries: Carr (2), Duffy, Pen. try
Cons: Keatley (2)
Pens: Keatley

Edinburgh:
Tries: Newlands, King
Cons: Laidlaw (2)
Pens: Laidlaw (3)
Connacht: G Duffy; B Tuohy, T Nathan, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; R Loughney (B Wilkinson, 68), S Cronin (A Flavin, 75), J Hagan (R Ah You, ; M McCarthy, B Upton; A Browne, J O’Connor, R Ofisa (M McComish, 61).

Edinburgh: J Thompson; S Webster, N de Luca, J King, T Visser; G Laidlaw, M Blair; K Traynor (L Niven, 64), A Kelly, G Cross; S MacLeod, E Lozada (S Turnbull, 65); F McKenzie (R Grant, 54), S Newlands, D Denton.

Referee: C Damsaco (Italy).

Connacht face tough trip to Treviso

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By DECLAN ROONEY

Connacht travel to Italy to face Benetton Treviso on Saturday (7.05pm) in the Stadio Monigo in the final round of Magners League action before the international break.

Eric Elwood’s preparation for the tie has been hampered with having four of his first team involved with the Irish squad this week and was unsure until last night as to the availability of the quartet.

Brett Wilkinson was the latest addition to Declan Kidney’s squad and he joined Sean Cronin, John Muldoon and Gavin Duffy as the Irish prepare for the autumn internationals.

“We want the four of them to do well but we want them here as well,” said Elwood. “That is the dilemma coaches have I suppose. But it is out of our control it is up to Declan (Kidney) and hopefully the lads will feature during the autumn tests.”

Otherwise the coach expect to have a full hand to play with on Saturday, with slight doubts surrounding Niva Ta’auso who has a neck injury, expected to clear up in time.

And Elwood expects another bruising encounter with the Italian who rested a number of their squad ahead of the visit of Connacht.

“Obviously we have been monitoring Treviso pretty closely in the last three weeks or so and we know from their selections that they have rested quite a few players against Munster.

“They are making a big push and putting a big emphasis on the home games in the Magners. I think they rested seven players last week so they’ll be waiting for us. It’ll be a big test for us, they are very strong and good at home.”

Bonus point lost in dying seconds

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Connacht 6
Leinster 18

By JOHN FALLON

Connacht coach Eric Elwood was very disappointed to come away with nothing as his side fell to their first home defeat of the season.
They were starved of possession at a packed Sportsground on Saturday night and were denied even a bonus point when Dominic Ryan intercepted a Frank Murphy pass in the dying seconds.
“The lads know they should have got something out of the game, be it a point. For 80 minutes of effort you just get nothing. It is disappointing, it is frustrating to get completely nothing for your efforts,” said Elwood.
“I can’t fault the effort and the endeavour of the lads. There were long periods and we defended valiantly again. But you have got to play the game in the right area of the park.
“In a tight game when the break down was so contentious and Leinster are so good at the break down you are just putting yourself under pressure there and it is something that we didn’t have to do,” he said.
Connacht, worryingly, have not scored a try in their last three Magners League having scored seven in their opening two games but have only added one since.
Their honest endeavour merited at least a bonus point but that was robbed when Dominic Ryan intercepted Frank Murphy’s pass in the final play of the game to race in from 30 metres.
Sean Cronin came close to securing a match-winner for Connacht after breaking from deep in the dying seconds, with a worried Jonathan Sexton looking anxiously at the officials after his soccer-style sliding tackle nailed the Connacht hooker as they both chased his chip.
Connacht should have led at the break but Ian Keatley miscued a penalty in front of the posts just before the interval, having landed an earlier effort from the left.
The only try of game came after 13 minutes from a lineout take by Leo Cullen on the right which saw scrum-half Isaac Boss make a superb break before looping a long wide for Nacewa to step inside Darragh Fanning for the opening score.
Fanning and Ray Ofisa combined to deny Jamie Heaslip in the same corner after 27 minutes on one of the few occasions Leinster managed to get deep into the red zone.
Leinster maintained possession for long periods of the second-half but they struggled to crack a disciplined Connacht defence.
Sexton was off target with two ambitious drop goal efforts but Connacht hit back affter 54 minutes when some great ball retention going forward set up a penalty opportunity for Keatley and he made no mistake in front of the posts to make it 8-6.
But that was as near as Connacht got as Leinster went on the offensive, with Sexton extending their lead with a penalty from 22 metres on the left after 63 minutes before Ryan broke Connacht’s hearts with his late intercept try.

CONNACHT:
Pens: Keatley (2)

LEINSTER:
Tries: Nacewa, Ryan
Con: Sexton
Pens: Sexton (2)

Connacht: G Duffy; D Fanning, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan; M Swift, M McCarthy; J O’Connor, R Ofisa, J Muldoon.
Reps: M Nikora for Keatley, 59; T Nathan for Fanning, 69; E Taylor for O’Connor, 69; B Upton for McCarthy, 76.

Leinster: R Kearney; S Horgan, E O’Malley, F McFadden, I Nacewa; J Sexton, I Boss; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross; L Cullen, D Toner; S O’Brien, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
Reps: G Darcy for Kearney, 40; N Hines for Cullen, 58; E Reddan for Boss, 63; S Shawe for Ross, 63; D Ryan for Heaslip, 69 mins.

Referee: G Clancy (Ireland).

Con beat rivals to cup

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Cork Constitution 15

Garryowen 11

By JOHN FALLON

Cork Constitution made amends for last year’s shock final loss to Ballynahinch by carving out a hard-earned victory over arch rivals Garryowen in the AIB Cup decider at Dubarry Park.

And Con, the inaugural winners in 2006 and now the first side to win it twice, did it the hard way as they came from six points down despite being reduced to fourteen men just before th break.

Referee Alain Rolland, on the advice of touch judge David Keane, dished out a straight red card to Con lock Ian Nagle for repeated use of the fist in a ruck.

“I didn’t see the red-card incident,” said Con coach Brian Walsh.”But we were down to 14, we talked to them at the break and told them they just has to keep on playing the same way as they had been, see it through,” he said.

And so they did. Their wastefullness of ample possession in the opening half looked set to undermine tham with Richard Lane’s fine try after 15 minutes a poor reward for an opening quarter of dominance.

It was never going to be a free-flowing clash between two old rivals who slugged it out in a 6-6 league draw a week earlier, but it was a gripping battle nonetheless, especially up front where neither one gave an inch.

“I suppose we played out a dull encounter last week and one thing we wanted to do today was to come and play rugby.  We did a lot of that at the start of the game, playing good rugby but I didn’t think we got the reward for it, didn’t put the points on the board,” noted Walsh.

Garryowen hit back with two long-range penalties from scrum-half Conor Murray to edge in front and they looked like adding to their 2007 success when hooker Michael Sherry barged over the in the same incident that saw Nagle red-carded.

But Garryowen never pushed on from there and never made use of their extra man.

Instead it was Cork Con who owned the ball after the restart despite their numerical disadvantage.

They were rewarded for their patience when they recycled the ball several times before out-half Daragh Lyons spotted an opening and evaded serval tackles to dance over with twelve minutes remaining to reduce the deficit to a point.

Scott Deasy added the conversion from just to the left of the posts to put Cork Con into a lead they never lost.

Garryowen never looked like coming back and Deasy made the game safe with a penalty in the dying moments of a good tussle.

“They’re a very tight-knit group, they felt for Ian Nagle over what had happened,” added Walsh. They back each other up, a very resilient group, and we decided that if we did go down, at least we’d go down giving it everything. Thankfully it was enough for us to win the match and the cup,” said Walsh.

CORK CONSTITUTION:

Tries: Lane, Lyons

Pen: Deasy

Con: Deasy

GARRYOWEN;

Try: Sherry

Pens: Murray (2)

Cork Constitution: S Deasy; R Lane, T Gleeson, E Ryan, C Healy; D Lyons, D Williams; M Gately, R Quinn, S Archer; M O’Connell, I Nagle; B Holland, F Cogan, P O’Mahony.

Replacements: B Hayes for O’Connell, 70 mins; A Ryan for E Ryan, 70 mins; D O’Driscoll for Williams, 77 mins; G Murray for Gately, 80 mins.

Garryowen: R O’Mahony; I Hanley, C Doyle, K Hartigan, A Gaughan; W Staunton, C Murray; J Harney, M Sherry, D Lavery; F McKenna, E Mackey; P Neville, D Sherry, A Kavanagh.

Replacements: M Melbourne for Mackey, 75 mins; A McCloskey for McKenna, 70 mins; C Hartigan for Gaughan, 70 mins; L Burke for Kavanagh, 70 mins; R Brosnan for Harney, 75 mins.

Referee: A Rolland (IRFU).

U-20s on verge of Six Nations title

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Ireland 44

Scotland 15

By JOHN FALLON

Ireland all but wrapped up the U-20 Six Nations title with a devastating display which brushed Scotland aside at Dubarry Park last night.

Ireland will only be deprived of the crown if England somehow managed to defeat France by 46 points in St Nazaire on Sunday afternoon but a second U-20 championship in four years is all but in the bag.

Ireland in five tries in a superb display from a side which has improved game on game this season and which hopefully sets a nice precedence for what might happened in Croke Park this afternoon.

Ireland laid out their stall from the outset and had the issue wrapped up by the interval with three tries and the boot of James McKinney helping them to a 30-9 half-time lead.

The Scottish resistance was poor but there was little they could do to curtail the brilliance of inside centre Nevin Spence, with the Ballynahinch man crossing twice in that opening half and then setting up the third just before the break.

No.8 Patrick Butler, tighthead Stewart Maguire and openside flanker Dominic Ryan were also to the fore in taking the game to a Scottish side who denied them the championship last year.

Scotland Alex Blair landed a couple of early penalties in reponse to an opening effort from McKinney but fears of a tight contest quickly disappared when Spence spotted a gap down the right to dash over for the opening try after 16 minutes.

McKinney tacked on a brace of penalties for Ireland to lead by 16-6 twelve minutes from the break.

But then Spence burst through from close range for a converted try nine minutes from the interval and further daylight was put between the sides when he set up his outside centre Eoin Griffin who put full-back Andrew Conway over for another converted try two minutes from the break.

Blair brought some relief to the Scots with another penalty to leave it 30-9 at the break.

Blair pulled back another penalty just after the restart but then McKinney and Tiernan O’Halloran combined to send Conway through for his second try of the game.

McKinney kept the scoreboard ticking over — he landed eight from eleven — as Ireland continued to pull away.

The victory was sealed in the final quarter when winger O’Halloran danced his way through several tackles to cross for their fifth try as the Scottish cover was again sliced open.

After that it was only a matter of ensuring Scotland did not reduce the advantage which should be enough to see them crowned champions regardless of what happens in the Loire valley on Sunday.

IRELAND:

Tries: Spence (2); Conway (2), O’Halloran

Cons: McKinney (5)

Pens: McKinney (3)

SCOTLAND:

Pens: Blair (5)

TEAMS WITH CLUBS INCLUDED FOLLOWED BY TEAMS WITHOUT CLUBS

Ireland: A Conway (Blackrock/Leinster); T O’Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht), E Griffin (Corinthians/Connacht), N Spence (Ballynahinch/Ulster), S Zebo (Cork Con/Munster); J McKinney (Queen’s/Ulster), J Cooney (UCD/Leinster); J O’Connell (Lansdowne/Leinster), N Annett (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), S Maguire (Old Belvedere/Leinster); D O’Callaghan (UCC/Munster), B Marshall (UCD/Leinster); R Ruddock (UCD/Leinster), D Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster), P Butler (Shannon/Munster).

Replacements: B Cagney (UCC/Munster) for Maguire, 68 mins; B Hayes (Cork Con/Munster) for Marshall, 68 mins; B Macken (Blackrock/Leinster) for O’Halloran, 76 mins; G Quinn McDonogh (Shannon/Munster) for McKinney, 80 mins; R Byrne (UCD/Leinster) for Annett, 80 mins; M Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) for Cooney, 80 mins; R O’Sullivan (Bective Rangers/Leinster) for Ryan, 80 mins.

Scotland: T Brown (Edinburgh Academicals); O Grove (Worcester), J Johnstone (Currie), A Dunbar (Selkirk), D Fife (Currie); A Blair (Edinburgh Academicals), A Black (Leeds); N Little (Hawick), A Walker (Currie), C Phillips (Stewarts Melville); M Reid (Heriots), R Harley (West of Scotland); M Matman (Heriots), S McInally (Watsonians), D Denton (Edinburgh Academicals).

Replacements: D Weir (Glasgow Hawks) for Dunbar, half-time; K Hamilton (Caithness) for Black, half-time; A Hall (Newcastle) for Phillips, 46 mins; C Stidston-Nott (London Scottish) for Reid, 46 mins; M Scott (Currie) for Johnstone, 66 mins; L Gibson (Melrose) forWalker, 72 mins.

Ireland: A Conway, T O’Halloran, E Griffin, N Spence, S Zebo, J McKinney, J Cooney, J O’Connell, N Annett, S Maguire, D O’Callaghan, B Marshall, R Ruddock, D Ryan, P Butler.

Replacements: B Cagney for Maguire, 68 mins; B Hayes for Marshall, 68 mins; B Macken for O’Halloran, 76 mins; G Quinn McDonogh for McKinney, 80 mins; R Byrne for Annett, 80 mins; M Heaney for Cooney, 80 mins; R O’Sullivan for Ryan, 80 mins.

Scotland: T Brown, O Grove, J Johnstone, A Dunbar, D Fife, A Blair, A Black, N Little, A Walker, C Phillips, M Reid, R Harley, M Matman, S McInally, D Denton.

Replacements: D Weir for Dunbar, half-time; K Hamilton for Black, half-time; A Hall for Phillips, 46 mins; C Stidston-Nott for Reid, 46 mins; M Scott for Johnstone, 66 mins; L Gibson forWalker, 72 mins

Referee: M Raynal (France).